Numerous means are used to secure fishing hooks to fishing lure bodies and provide attachment points for leaders. One common method of providing both a means to secure fishing hooks and tie leaders to the lures is the use of screw eyes. Screw eyes require a manual assembly operation which increases the cost of fishing lures and their security degraded with use in that twisting actions exerted on hooks and leader attaching points tend to lessen the holding ability of the screw threads which ultimately leads to failure of the attaching means.
Lure approaches to securing hooks and leader attaching means to fishing lures include the use of metal straps which are secured to a lure body by rivets or screws. The metal straps are expensive in that they require a manual operation for installation and the rivets or screw threads are subject to deteriorating wear as the lure is used which ultimately results in failure of the connection system.
These various shortcomings in lure hardware have been partially overcome through the use of hook hangers such as described in the McGahee U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,095,315 and 4,112,608 which are directed to a hook attachment system. However, this improvement in the art does not extend to the leader or line connecting system and necessitates that the manufacturer maintain an inventory of a number of different types of lure hardware.
A further shortcoming in fishing lure hardware is created because of variations in balance of production fishing lures which necessitate that fishermen tune individual lures for proper action by bending the line attachment means to one side or the other. When this is done to present design line attachment hardware, the hardware does not retain the new, altered position because the act of bending the hardware loosens the hardware and in some cases damages the lure material around the hardware. This ultimately results in lost tuning and in some instances lost lures and fish when a strike occurs and the damaged lure material permits the hardware to be pulled out.